Ron Drew's Music Pages - Favourite Singers

Shirley Bassey

Our Shirley's early life

Shirley was born at Tiger Bay in Cardiff, January 8th 1937(?), in an area which produced much heartbreak and unhappiness. Her parents, a Nigerian sailor and an English woman, divorced before she was three years old, but the the family in the main kept together, and Shirley was able to sing duets with her brother at family get-togethers.

When she left school Shirley took a job at a local factory, and earned a bit extra by singing, after work finished, at the local working mens clubs. She was to rise from this harsh beginning to the glamorous heights of her chosen profession.

Few female singers have had the likes of Shirley's talent, beauty and intense involvement with what she does. The depth of feeling and understanding which she injects in her singing is coloured by the experience of her earlier years which were far from being "Days of Wine and Roses".

My first experience of Miss Bassey

Shirley Bassey made her first appearance at the age of 16 in the chorus of a touring revue - "Memories of Al Jolson". It was shortly after this that I heard her singing for the first time.

My wife, Evelyn, and I were on holiday at Accrington in the late summer of 1950. We decided to go to Blackpool for a day out and in the evening were attracted by an advertisement about a Revue at the Opera House that evening in which Ivor Emmanuel had top billing.

The only seats available for the first house performance were near the back of the Gallery where we were perched for a rather uncomfortable but enjoyable one and half hours entertainment. For us the highlight of the show turned out not to be the star of the show, but one of the supporting turns, Shirley Bassey. (If her published birth date is accepted Shirley would have been only13 years old, but I would have put her age at that time as about 17 years.)

She sang without the aid of a microphone, and we heard every note and every word distinctly at our seat in the Gallery: her pitch and musical expression exquisite. She not only smiled her way through the turn, but her whole being was part of each song: each nuance in the words reflected in her movements of hands, fingers and body. It was an electrifying experience and I fell in love with her from that day and throughout my life. If Evelyn was at all jealous it has not shown, for she too has been a fan of Miss Bassey as long as me.

Her Career

Bassey traveled around the country continuing to do Revues and then progressed to the clubs in London's West End. It was here in 1955 that she was heard by Jack Hylton singing in the Astor Club and this led to her first success in the West End Revue "Such is Life" featuring comedian Al Read.. The following year Shirley signed her first recording contract with Philips and made her first successful record "Banana Boat Song".

She was to reach the top of the charts in 1959 with "As I Love You". However Shirley Bassey is perhaps best known for her singing in 1964 of the title song for the third sensationally successful James Bond film "Goldfinger".

In 1962 she was to tour America with the arranger, Nelson Riddle and his Ork. and this was to bring her a prestigious following in the States. During the early 60's their live shows gained Shirley Bassey headlines in both New York and Las Vegas.

She is famous for her extravagant gowns and most of those worn throughout her career are stored - and well catalogued - in a giant warehouse. Like many famous artists today Miss Bassey also lives an extravagant lifestyle and has a culinary taste to match it! As Gordon Barr reports (Newcastle Chronicle 17/05/2000) .......

"[In 1992] as she prepared for a show at the Newcastle City Hall ........ the fiery singer requested a stock of top-quality beluga caviar as her backstage appertiser.But sturgeon roe was thin on the ground in Newcastle and neither Fenwick nor Marks & Spencer could oblige. Happily, North Shields fishmonger Alan Taylor had some tubs of this delicacy at his outlet in Jesmond [a suburb of Newcastle], and three were sent express to the stage door on a silver tray of crushed ice."

Shirley continued to tour the world and was a well loved ambassador for British show business. In 1994 she was delighted to receive the honour of the Companion of the British Empire (C.B.E.) She described her visit to Buckingham Palace to receive the award as being "the cherry on the cake".

Shirley Bassey today

As a long standing fan, I found it upsetting to go to a performance in May 1998 at what can at best be equated to a converted warehouse, the Telewest Arena in Newcastle. The acoustics made her sound like any present day pop singer - plenty voice but no clarity in the words: much good music by the orchestra but the amplified balance with the voice was often overpowering. The set didn't do her justice: the view of Shirley by the audience resolved into relying largely on the watching of television screens placed around the 'proscenium' and at other points in the body of the arena. Not the setting for a Queen of British Singers. Yet the electricity was still there. Her personality shone through and she was still MY SHIRLEY BASSEY, C.B.E.

In the Millennium New Year's Honours List - there it was again : further recognition! Shirley Bassey was awarded the honour of Dame of the British Empire (D.B.E.) The photo shows Barbara Windsor M.B.E. curtsying to Dame Shirley Bassey in a moment of light relief after their  investiture by the Queen which took place at Buckingham Palace on July 19th, 2000.

Her latest visit to the Telewest Arena was on 20th May, 2000 but, whilst it was still another sell-out, I declined the opportunity of attending her performance. I await Dame Shirley's return to Newcastle City Hall with eager anticipation.

In the year 2000, Shirley, at 68 years of age, celebrated her 50th anniversary in show business with the usual tour and as to be expected it was a sell-out. Melanie Rickie writing in the Sunday Times commented that "[even after 50 years Dame Shirley Bassey] can hold an audience rapt with a sustained note better than any of the young pop tarts bopping around today. There's no doubt, the lass from Tiger Bay, Cardiff, is still a world-class diva."

3 years later she said goodbye to a very important part of her career - her stage gowns. These she had kept in her 'wardrobe' a huge warehouse which housed every dress she had worn on stage. In September 2003 Shirley Bassey sold every one of them at Christies with the proceeds going to her favourite charities.

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Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Ron Drew.
Last revised: September 09, 2003.